The Bet in the Dream
by McGonagall's Bola
Summary: Booth's mind has begun to focus on something more than prior to his time off after the surgery. Forced time off sometimes, well sometimes, it makes you ponder about so many possibilities that are open for you... BB -REWRITTEN!
1. Chapter 1

BETA READ by _The Imperfectionist_

* * *

Chapter 1

Bones was sitting nervously in the waiting room of the gynecologist. Booth was right beside her, reading an interesting article about sex during pregnancy in one of the several typical female magazines lying about on the waiting room table.

Temperance tapped her foot impatiently; she had been doing so ever since she'd sat down in the chair to wait for the gynecologist to call the two of them in. Seeley Booth had never seen his wife that nervous before, and it was working on his system as well. His hand went to her knee and squeezed it gently. "Honey, will you please stop that? It's making me nervous as well."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Temperance sighed, crossing her legs neatly and lying her head down on his shoulder, looking down at her protruding tummy, gently stroking it with both hands, even though it was only a small bump still. Booth gave her one of her favorite crooked smiles and looked down at her tummy as well – their tummy.

"When do you think we could see if it's a boy or a girl?"

"I want to wait until the baby's born."

"Are you being serious here? I can't wait another six months! I mean, I would like to be informed on how I should address your tummy. I can't say 'he/she' all the time until he – or she – is born. See, I–" "No, we are waiting until he or she's born, because knowing you… from the moment you hear it's going to be a boy or a girl, the rest of the world will know it as well."

"No! I- I can keep a secret. Trust me; I can keep a secret… But, I don't think the gender of our love baby should be considered a secret. It's something I want to scream in the streets."

Temperance gave him a faint smile. "Yeah, like the fact that I'm pregnant. You should be happy Angela didn't suffocate in her chewing gum. You simply walked in the bar, yelling, 'Guys, we're having a baby!' That was much less than subtle."

"Maybe, but I was just happy about it. Still am, by the way…" he whispered, leaning in to kiss his wife's lips as the door to the gynecologist's office opened, revealing a dark haired and bearded man in his forties with glasses and a long white coat, leading a woman in advanced state of pregnancy out.

He invited them in with a gesture of his arm, and the young couple got up from their chairs in the waiting room and made their way inside the office.

* * *

"Tempe?"

"Yeah."

"You weren't serious when you said that... were you?"

"I was."

"But, I still want to know," Booth whispered, as she was spooning into him while they lay in bed together that night. "I will go insane if I have to wait another six months. Don't I have special privileges of knowing since I'm the father?"

"Stop nagging, you know what I said," she chuckled.

"Yeah, but–" "No buts, Seeley Booth. You're going to have to wait just like everyone else. Raise a bet or something," she yawned before dozing off with a smile on her lips.

A bet, huh…

* * *

"Guys!" Booth yelled the next morning as he stepped into the bar, trying to gather all of his employees. Most of them immediately dropped what they were doing, and walked over towards the bar, where Sweets kept on drying glasses, but looked at Mr. B intently, giving him all his attention. Having been a bartender for so long, he could literally wash and dry glasses with his eyes closed if necessary.

Booth took a couple of beer cards from the bar and handed one to each of his employees, causing Sweets to have to put down his glass and towel now.

Booth got several confused glances and opened his mouth to explain. "As you all know, the lady and I are having a baby in about six months. Since we don't want to know the gender before he – or she – is born…"

He stopped when he saw Ange raise one eyebrow. "I would have expected of her to not want to know, but I'm almost sure that you do want to know, Mr. B."

"Well, yeah," Booth replied a bit nervously. The last thing he wanted was for his employees to think that Tempe was wearing the pants at home, even though he knew and didn't mind that they were aware he'd do everything for her – anything, to make her happy or happier than she already was.

"Doesn't matter," he said, noticing Ange's triumphant smile. "Since we prefer not to know the baby's gender before he or she's born, I think a bet would be in place here. I'd like for you all to write down your name on the beer card, together with your best guess on gender, weight, length, and birth date."

Booth swiftly took a few pens from behind the bar and laid them down upon it, waiting for everyone to take one and did as they were being asked. He himself picked up a beer card and pen as well.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Hey, have you thought about godparents already?" Booth asked a few nights later. His wife was up in bed reading a pregnancy book about how to connect with your baby when it's still in the tummy, while he was lying on his side beside her, propped up on an elbow and watching her.

Tempe quietly averted her gaze from the book in her lap and looked at him. "No, why?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could pick the male and female who scored best on the bet, what do you think?"

"What bet?" She wondered, frowning.

Oops…

"Well…" Booth started. "I raised a bet among the squints about the baby, you know: gender, weight, length, birth date… the basic things."

"You did what?"

"Well, I already told them that the winner got a bottle of champagne. And since they are kind of our family and friends at the same time…"

"But, who says I want him or her to have godparents? I'm not religious in any way, so what's the point of indicating a godmother and godfather if the meaning of it gets lost anyways?"

"Heh, come on, honey. You're not going to deny him godparents, are you?"

"I never had godparents, and I never missed them. I bet a load of the ones who have godparents lose contact after their adult phase anyways. Do you still have contact with yours?"

"No."

"See. That's what I mean."

"Temperance. They're dead. Both my godparents – my grandparents – died in a house fire when I was eight. They couldn't be saved; they died because they wanted to get their animals out. They lived on a farm. Half of the animals died in the fire as well."

The pregnant woman slowly swallowed. "I'm sorry, sweet, I didn't mean to..."

"Nah, it's okay. Don't worry about it. I get your point as well, but I'd still like it if he had godparents."

"Or she," Temperance smiled, picking up the pregnancy book again and starting to read along. She knew she could tease him to bits when she started about the gender of the baby.

"Stop teasing. I still think it would be more practical to know what we're having, you know. So that I won't paint the nursery in a pink when we're having a boy or decorate it completely with cars when it's the other way around. And don't start about neutral colors again. I think a colorful environment would be more fun for him – or her." He sighed. "I don't know, but my gut's telling me that it's a boy."

"Why?" Temperance frowned, still smiling, now closing the pregnancy book and putting it on the nightstand, giving him all her attention.

"Well, I just have a feeling."

"Something must have led to those feelings."

"Well," Booth started, wiggling his eyebrows at her momentarily before continuing. "They always say first having a boy, then a girl as a second child, is a king's wish. And since you are my queen…"

"Aww," Temperance smiled, leaning in to kiss his lips briefly.

"And besides, I read some interesting stuff on the net lately."

"Oh, really, is that so?" Temperance smiled, slowly sliding her leg over his hips and heaving herself on top of him, starting to kiss his chest.

"Mmm, I have," he answered. "I read about some women that had a really high sex drive when they're pregnant with a son, and a normal or even none when pregnant with a daughter. And since you, well… have been quite addicted to me lately…"

"With some women, it's entirely the other way around. And some have so many complaints that they never really think about sex when pregnant."

"They say that when you crave sweet things when pregnant, like suckers and chocolate, you're having a girl. And you have only been eating healthy."

"Honey," she chuckled. "I'm only four months along. So if you really want to go for the old wives tales, I think you're a bit too soon. And I always eat healthy. It's healthy for the baby as well. Boy or girl."

"True, I suppose. But, you're carrying low too, so–"

Tempe chuckled again. "Then every woman close to giving birth is having a boy or what?"

"Why are you making fun of me all the time?"

"Because what you're saying is ridiculous. I'm not making fun of you, but of what you're saying. Which is fairly said almost the same, but not quite. Everything you're saying has been scientifically proven to not be a general rule. It's all in the book I read. You should read it sometime."

"Maybe I should," Booth said, sticking out his tongue at her in the dark, realizing that she couldn't see it because she'd turned off the bedside light when she'd put her book aside. He quietly rolled her over on her side.

"Hey, I wanted some intimacy."

"No sex when you're making fun of what I'm saying. Besides, we already did it three times today. Little Seeley needs a bit of rest from time to time, too."

"I bet he's just fine. Besides he doesn't participate to the sexual intercourse."

"Tempe, I meant… you know."

"…Oh."

Seeley Booth woke up with a smile on his face, searching for his pregnant wife, but she wasn't there. The bed was empty beside him. He sat up right, and realized it had only been a dream. A really good one, he sighed.


End file.
